Chris Cowey

{{Short description|British television producer}}

{{for|the Scottish music producer and DJ|Chris Cowie}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}

Chris Cowey (born c. 1961 in Sunderland) is an English television producer specialising in music shows. He is best known for producing Top of the Pops from 1997 until 2003.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/06/arts/television-radio-seeing-at-last-how-britain-counts-down-the-hits.html |work=The New York Times |title=Television/Radio; Seeing, at Last, How Britain Counts Down the Hits |first=Jon |last=Pareles |date=6 January 2002 |accessdate=12 December 2008}}{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3100933.stm |work=BBC News Online |publisher=BBC |date=23 July 2003 |title=Peters takes on Top of the Pops |accessdate=12 December 2008}}

Cowey co-presented the Tyne Tees television pop show All Right Now and spent several years as a DJ at Sunderland Mayfair (Mecca) in the late 1970s. He also produced the Channel 4 music show The White Room between 1995 and 1996 and worked on The Tube in Newcastle in the 1980s. He co-presented Check It Out 1979 to 1982 and was one of the interviewers of the notorious appearance of John Lydon (Johnny Rotten) when he walked off set, leaving Cowey shaken.{{cite web|url=https://whatculture.com/music/10-times-people-died-inside-during-awkward-interviews?page=7|title=10 Times People Died Inside During Awkward Interviews|first=Leon|last=Biljon|date=17 May 2020|website=WhatCulture.com}}

He became one of the judges on the ITV1 reality show Soapstar Superstar in 2006{{cite news |url=https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/itv-mulls-music-show-rival-top-pops/536959 |title=ITV mulls music show to rival Top of the Pops |last=Matthews |first=Sam | date=23 January 2006 |work=Campaign Live |access-date=18 June 2022 |language=en}} and reprised this role in 2007.

He is a supporter of Sunderland A.F.C.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/cv-chris-cowey-producer-top-of-the-pops-1150600.html|title=CV - Chris Cowey Producer, 'Top of the Pops'|last=Hughes|first=Scott|date=16 March 1998|work=The Independent|access-date=23 October 2011}}